MCL’s $10K gift to Critical’ school drive

Tuesday

May 22, 2012 at 12:01 AMMay 22, 2012 at 10:11 PM

“Making the Critical Difference,” a new fundraising campaign recently announced by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, got off to a good start during its official kickoff last week -- with a donation of $10,000 from Materials & Chemistry Laboratory Inc.

Staff reports

“Making the Critical Difference,” a new fundraising campaign recently announced by the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, got off to a good start during its official kickoff last week -- with a donation of $10,000 from Materials & Chemistry Laboratory Inc.

MCL President and CEO Barry Stephenson, who also serves on the ORPSEF’s board of directors, said the Oak Ridge company’s gift says two things to the local citizenry: “One, we believe it IS critical that, as a community, we work together to sustain the quality of our schools; and, two, it is important for all companies in Oak Ridge -- both large and small -- to participate in this campaign.”

The “Making the Critical Difference” campaign is an effort to raise $500,000 in private donations from companies and individuals to provide additional teaching resources for all grades in each of the city’s public schools.

Foundation grants are awarded to teachers who submit competitive proposals. The majority of the one-time grants are in the range of $500 to $5,000 and cannot be used for salaries or to replace programs previously funded in the schools’ budget.

An ORPSEF release states the Foundation has provided $322,000 in teacher grants since 2005, but has only been able to fund about one-third of the proposals. Foundation Chair Thom Mason, who also serves as director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said the ORPSEF seeks to provide teachers resources such as science equipment, reading software, and interactive technology that “otherwise would be unavailable in the classroom.”

MCL’s Stephenson added: “This is an extremely popular program with both teachers and students. The goal of our campaign is to take a good program and build on it by providing resources that can make the critical difference in the quality of classroom instruction.

“Good teaching,” Stephenson went on to say, “is the single most important element of student learning, and our company wants to provide our outstanding teachers with the best resources possible.”

Located in the East Tennessee Technology Park, Materials & Chemistry Laboratory Inc. is a commercial investigative analytical testing group providing high quality consulting and laboratory support for industrial forensics, materials characterization, treatability studies, environmental chemistry and process optimization, an ORPSEF release stated.

A “Making the Critical Difference” campaign kickoff was held May 16 in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria and featured the announcement of awards to a dozen teachers for the 2012-13 school year. Attendees were also treated to a demonstration by the Oak Ridge Robotics FIRST team that has participated in both state and national competitions.

Funding for the robotics competition is an example of programs that may be supported by the Foundation’s campaign, an earlier release stated.

Those interested in learning more about the “Making the Critical Difference” campaign or making a donation to it can call (865) 241-3667 or contact Lila Metcalf at Lila.Metcalf@orau.org.

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